thegreenhowards

Thanks Tony, No I didn’t fit a different whistle to No.13. To be honest I’d forgotten all about that until you mentioned it but I should have remembered. It doesn’t look that different in photos. Can anyone recommend any close up photos? I don’t suppose it’s available to buy as a part? Andy

Not much to report for a couple of weeks but on Thursday, Peter delivered the next baseboard. He sent me a few photos of it under construction which show the quality of his workmanship. Not everyone's cup of tea, so if you don't like woodwork switch off now, but for an average woodworker like myself they show some lovely craftmanship, so I hope some of you appreciate them. It has been 'quarantined' in the garage for a couple of days. But today I brought it in and started roughly laying track. This is to check the positioning prior to gluing down cork. I have almost finished this - this is the state of play. I can only (easily) fit two of the four scenic baseboards in my dining room; there will be another 4 foot board beyond the one you can see which will have straight tracks to the end of the platforms on it. The bits of wood sticking up represent the platforms. 8cm for the one sided platform on the left and 10.5cm for the double sided platform on the right. The tracks for the two main platforms have a very gentle reverse curve to add interest and provide enough space for a platform at the near end between them and the descending goods line. Here I show it with some stock. On the left the N1 is emerging from the descending line with a short transfer goods. This line will go into a tunnel similar to hotel curve at King's Cross and then on to a hidden cassette on the next board representing goods to Billingsgate fish market and maybe a Thameside wharf. The Gresley non corridor stock is in the two main platforms. The lines on the right are a short platform for parcels and some peak services and a headshunt for the goods yard. I'm not intending to lay the goods yard at this stage as I think we need a club meeting to agree the finer details. Any comments welcome. Andy

Thanks David, I’m sure Peter’s spares would do it but I’m too mean to pay postage for one silly screw! Plus I know the one I lost will turn up as soon as I order a new one. Same really applies to chimneys. I’ll borrow one from a kit until I can get it a show again. Regards Andy

I don’t make a habit of it, but it was useful in this case. Luckily 13 and 20 were both bought second hand from the same person so the weathering matches reasonably well.

Thanks for the help people on here gave me with planning No.9 a few days ago. It gave me what I needed to tackle the conversion of Hornby’s Miles Beevor to Union of South Africa. The crest were ordered from Fox on Monday and arrived on Tuesday - that’s service! Here is the result. The crest works very well with just the thickness of the transfer. I had to swap tenders around a bit, with this one coming from No.13. As a result No.13 has been backdated to ‘51 to ‘55 when she carried a non corridor tender and still had the NZ crest. So Fox provided that crest at the same time which conveniently covered the works plate which shouldn’t have been there! Keep up there at the back! Finally a video of No.9 on the 1957 Lizzie which is what I wanted her for. Andy

This post could be called “A Tangle of Tenders: the Andy Sparkes Version”! For those not familiar there is an excellent series of articles of that name on the complexities of which A4 got which tender on the Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Trust website. Anyway, back in November you may remember that I stole the streamlined non corridor tender from ‘Miles Beevor’ to place with an ex ‘Minoru’ front end and produce 60046 Diamond Jubilee. That left me with this oddity. I had been wanting to produce No 9 for my Elizabethan rake as it hauled the train in 1957 (which is the year my rake represents) whereas 60013 which I had been using did not. I have struggled to find a streamlined corridor tender A4 on eBay at a sensible price, so I decided to cannibalise 60013. I took it’s tender and cleaned it up and put the late emblem on the slides. I then transferred the body to the tender chassis off Miles Beevor (as this was a later Hornby version with the decoder in the tender). As I only run the southbound Lizzie, I’ve removed the coal from the tender and left it almost empty to represent the train towards the end of its journey. Meanwhile the front of Miles Beevor was transformed into No.9. Nameplates, springbok plaques and numbers are from Modelmaster, the South Africa crest is from Fox (ordered on Monday, delivered on Tuesday, fitted Wednesday). Klear certainly brings out the green nicely and I think she looks the part on the Elizabethan. What about Dominion of New Zealand you say? Well she now shares a tender with 60020, Guillemot. Not ideal but as they are the older Hornby type with a simple tender connection and the decoder in the loco body, it seems to work OK. This means she has a non corridor tender which was carried from 1951 to ‘55. Pictures show that she carried the NZ crest at this time, so I ordered one of these from Fox at the same time as No.9’s and fitted it yesterday. Here is the revised No.13. That leaves me with the following bits and bobs. The tender body off Minoru doesn’t seem to fit No.13’s old tender chassis. The loco chassis has lost a coupling rod screw. And 60035 is missing its chimney. So a bit of a challenge! But with a fair wind, I’m hoping 60106 Flying Fox will emerge from this mess in a couple of months. Does anyone know what thread size the Hornby coupling rod screws are? Andy

This evening it’s another up New England - Ferme Park loaded coal train headed this time by 9F, 92185, delivered new to New England in Jan ‘58. ...and a video to show the whole train.

I’ll go for Glen Sheil. Home to some of the finest mountain walks in the UK.

I remember the exchange of posts involving you, Tony Wright and Steve (31A). I have printed it out and keep it as vital reference material. On that basis I should have 3 wooden vehicles rather than five, but the formations in the back of Ford (vol 2.) have up to 4 in the 8 coach north of Leeds formation and I know from pictures that the front two cars attached at Leeds often had one wooden vehicle as well, so I think I’m OK, if top end, with 5 overall. My Yorkshire Pullman rake has 5 wooden out of 11, so slightly more in keeping with your rule of thumb but still a bit wood heavy. I really need a couple more all steel vehicles (one for each rake) but they’re expensive so I will wait until I see a bargain. As for Car 61, it’s also got the wrong window arrangement as the prototype didn’t match the standard Hornby design, so it will be going on eBay at some point soon. What I’d also like to do is cut ‘n’ shut a car 209 or 248 like Tim did for you. But it’s not a priority for the moment. Regards Andy

Those who follow my workbench thread will have had a sneak preview of tonight’s train, The up Queen of Scots Pullman headed by Copley Hill A1, 60130. I'm ashamed to say that the loco is pretty much straight out of the box with just lamps, crew and coal added. It needs weathering which is on the todo list. However, I’m rather more proud of the train which has taken a fair bit of research and then modelling to produce. I have described the work on my Coulsdon Works thread here for those interested. Here is a going away shot of the rake showing the tailboard. The video shows the whole train as it passes.

Indeed. What is Monro? I assumed a different spelling of the same name.

On Saturday I dug my Queen of Scots Pullman rake out of the box where it has been sitting since just before lockdown 1 as its turn is coming up on the Gresley sequence. I was disappinted to find that it was not up to a good enough standard to show. I had a mix of Pullman emblems (pre and post ‘61). I think they had largely been transferred to the SR before the late emblem made it onto any ECML Pullmans (apart from the Met Cams and the brakes which survived to work with them). They had some white roofs, some weathered and some grey Hornby plastic. Several roof boards were missing. And Car 61 was still in the rake which I don’t think ever worked on the Eastern Region (although I could be wrong). So I did some quick upgrading work. 1. All the roofs were painted Railmatch roof grey. 2. The late emblems were removed and replaced with early emblems. I took the opportunity to gloss up these cars at the same time. 3. My newly built/ cut ‘n’ shut Car 105 replaced Car 61. 4. Borrowing enough roof boards from the far side, so that all the coaches have the correct roof board on the near side. 5. All tension locks replaced with Hunt couplings or Rocos. I’m pleased with the train now. It represents the 1959 formation although it didn’t alter much over the years. All the cars are listed in the excellent Ford Pullman books as having worked on the Queen of Scots in the ‘50s (although not at the same time). Zena is a bit doubtful as she went on loan to the WR for quite a long period but is listed as working the QofS in 1954. I may have to renumber her. There is a 50/50 mix of all steel and wooden bodied cars which is typical of the train in the ‘50s - perhaps should be one more all steel? Here is the resulting rake in pairs. Fingall and Car 105. Car 161 and car 70. Car 83 and Joan. Onyx and Zena. And finally Car 107 and Car 77. The last three cars are Hornby Railroad Pullmans (the ones with the horrid silver roofs). I’ve treated them to Precision labels to rename them which cover the whole umber strip. Car 107 was cut ‘n’ shut to represent one of the trio of wooden bodied cars (105/6/7) which were different to all the Hornby models and were regulars on the ECML in the ‘50s. I wrote it up on here a year or so ago. I think they stand comparison now with the super detail cars. The obvious weaknesses are the bogies and the lack of interior lighting (I don’t normally bother with interior lights but when the rest of the rake has them it looks a bit strange). I intend to do something about both soon(ish). I have a lighting pack from DCC concepts to try and I may take the bogies off surplus Hornby super detail Pullmans. Comments welcome - Pullmans are a minefield and I’m bound to have got something wrong! Andy

I’m a big fan of the Munro’s (Scottish mountains over 3000ft) and there’s a J36 called Monro which I assume is the same origin of word, so I’ll go with that.

Andrew, A simple ‘like’ isn’t sufficient for that piece. It’s that sort of research and subsequent modelling which makes LSGC the inspiration that it is (to me at least). Thanks for posting. Andy

I missed that Clive, but I can imagine it would be bouncy and rather cold! My most interesting experience of the Needles involved drifting towards them with our spinnaker wrapped round the prop shaft and therefore no way of powering the boat. I ended up going down the bathing ladder with a knife and cutting the very expensive spinnaker off and we got the motor going just in time. It was 15 years ago but still fresh in my memory! Sorry to veer off topic Gilbert. Andy

Today it’s time for the 1905 Parcels from KX to myriad destinations. I don’t really understand what this train should look like as for a period in the Summer it was a selection of vanfits and then on 1st September switched to B’s and BG’s. So I’m running one of my standard parcels trains. If anyone knows of a photo of this train, please let me know. Here it is approaching the station. And a broadside shot of Gay Crusader. And now on gasworks curve. And a video today as it was the only way to show all of the train.

Indeed. But there’s lots a mythology about chipping anything without a DCC socket - some people even struggle when there is a socket! The only loco to have defeated me so far is a V2 I bought off ‘sir’ with a live open frame motor. I will need to replace the motor at some stage but it’s a shame as it’s such a good runner. I’ve had it pulling 25 coaches at a scale 200 MPH on the club layout!

Thanks Manna, I was believing Yeadon which suggests they were lined up to the war. I’m planning to use mine for suburban workings into a ‘Minories’ type station in London, so I was assuming it would be lined as a passenger loco although if they were all used interchangeably I suppose that’s debatable. It would save me some hassle if it was plain black but I quite fancy the lined out look. In any event, the question is still relevant as my N2 will be next if the N1 goes OK. I’m starting with the N1 as that is unlined BR black, whereas the N2 is in lined BR black and will therefore need more stripping back first. Andy

We’re back to suburban trains this evening with the 1849 KX- Royston headed by B1, 61027, Madoqua. This was a long term resident of Hitchin, presumably spending most of its life on workings like this. This is my only Bachmann split chassis loco. I have been put off them by horror stories about their longevity and the problems in converting them to DCC. I bought this at a toy fair not realising it was split chassis so it was a bit of a shock when I got it home. But it was was pretty easy to convert - certainly easier than a DJH kit! I think it was virtually unused before I bought it, and it still runs very smoothly. We’ll see how long that lasts, but at a couple of circuits of my loft per year it should outlast me! The train is made up of a a standard outer suburban corridor six set with a couple of strengtheners on the front as per the diagrams. I think the juxtaposition with the baby Deltic is reasonable in this case. Third time lucky! Now rounding ‘gasworks curve’ And finally a going away shot.

I will also go for the Needles as I’ve sailed past them many times.

Can I ask what may be a stupid question? I am trying to backdate my O gauge N1 to LNER livery and want to know what to use to line it. I believe that they were lined with single red lines but double lines round the boiler bands. However it’s quite difficult to be sure as on the black and white photos of the era the red fades into the black. Hornby and Bachmann seem to use a single think red line on the boiler bands but I think that’s wrong. Looking at the Fox website they don’t do any specific LNER red lining. So I’m think of using their 0.35mm general purpose red lining for most of the loco and BR double red lining for the boiler bands. Does that seem a reasonable approach or is there a better answer out there (short of a bow pen which I’ve tried with no success)? Thanks for any help. Andy

Jonathan, I couldn’t answer immediately on the droplights as it was their fitting which drove me mad before Christmas and caused the kit to be put away. However, you spurred me on to fit the BT this morning and I seem to have exactly the right number of droplights. I found the door hinges attached to the drop lights were pretty useless and I had the file them all down to fit through the etched holes in the bodyside. Many fell off in the process - a right pain in the neck! As for stepboards, this is what I’m using with six left on the etch after fitting two. Have I got this wrong? Andy

Hi Jonathan, Good to see the Masterclass D.210 nearing completion. I put mine away before Christmas as I got fed up with soldering the sides up. But I dug it out again a few days ago and I’m making progress. However I’ve made a right mess of the foot boards which run right along the sole bar. There seem to be eight of them in the kit, so are they supposed to fold double? When I did fold them over I could get them in the holes so I put mine in singly but they waver all over the place as you can see. Did you encounter any problems and, if so, how did you solve them? Thanks Andy

Today I feature the 1640 Doncaster- KX which was a short semi fast working. It was formed of six coaches which seemed to be a mix of Mk 1 and Ex LNER stock but the exact mix varied from year to year. Today it is headed by 60063, Isinglass in its final ‘smoke deflectors’ guise so this must be post August ‘61. Another photo featuring the baby Deltic in the background. This one is also suspect date wise as I suspect the baby Deltic had been sidelined for rebuilding by the time Isinglass got her deflectors. Only two photos today as the others I took had even worse focus issues than the one above and the train’s now packed away again.

We bring ‘em up tough round ‘ere!